Are you one of the people who feels shy about using LinkedIn? Do you know about its potential but still hold back, in fear of having nothing worth sharing? You are definitely not the only one, and today’s guest has some wisdom to share! Join our host, Elisabeth Reithuber, for an inspiring talk with Ashley Ruba, a psychology researcher turned UX res…

Do you feel stuck? Do you tend to procrastinate taking the next steps in your career? If you want to find out why this happens and how to move forward, you should listen to today’s conversation with Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier and our host, Dr. Tina Persson. Marie-Hélène is a trained psychologist who holds a PhD and an MBA from the University of Bri…

Has your academic path lacked solid mentorship and support? Do you feel that, in order to move up, you need management skills that weren’t passed on to you during the PhD? Well, Flávia Sousa has “been-there, done-that” and in today’s episode she tells our host, Tina Persson, how she is working on making it easier for you! Flávia Sousa holds a PhD i…

Are you feeling frustrated and unproductive in academia? Do you feel compelled to quit and completely change your career? Join us for an inspiring episode hosted by Tina Persson, featuring Gry Wester, a fellow PhD Career Stories listener who transitioned from academia to consulting. Gry holds a PhD focused on health inequality and population health…

Are you a recent or soon-to-be PhD graduate trying to figure out the next steps? Have the events of the past few years gotten you interested in Science Communication? In this episode, you will hear from Katharina Schwaiger, who has been in a very similar spot! Katharina holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Graz and currentl…

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you realized the need for a fresh job title that better aligns with your responsibilities and skills? In this episode of PhD Career Stories, join our host Elisabeth Reithuber as she sits down with Martin Trinker, the Director of Business Development and Fundraising at the Austrian Center of Industri…

You might have always wanted to be an academic, but what if your academic research brought up a groundbreaking technology that you knew could dramatically revolutionize industrial processes? Would you choose to stay in academia or pivot to industry and bring your idea to market? Well, it is possible to do both! This episode’s guest, Simon Rittman, …

Are you curious why soft skills are crucial for your career growth? Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, this podcast is your gateway to practical tips, real-life examples, and expert insights that will help you harness the full potential of soft skills. In today’s episode, our host Tina Persson will have a roundtable discus…

Are you feeling left behind, questioning if your traditional methods are outdated in this era of AI tools? Do you grapple with ethical concerns when utilizing ChatGPT for specific tasks, feeling a sense of cheating? Or do you proudly embrace ChatGPT as your go-to solution for all your needs? Tina Persson and Joel Baker explore the importance of str…

Have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone and excelled in something that you thought was not your cup of tea? This is one of the topics out of many that Tina Persson and Bryan Quoc Le share with us in this episode. Bryan Quoc Le is a food scientist, food industry consultant, and author of 150 Food Science Questions Answered. He earned his PhD …

Are you looking forward to pursuing a postdoc career in the USA? Are you living in Europe, but dreaming of a long-term career in the USA? Are you looking forward to pursuing a postdoc career in the USA? Then this is an excellent episode for you as Tina Persson and Thalyana Stathis extensively discuss the application strategies for a postdoc positio…

During your PhD, have you ever thought if the world actually needs your research? Would people want to use your product? In this episode, Tina Persson and Sajni Haria discuss the entrepreneurial mindset that PhDs can train themselves with if they start thinking of the bigger picture of commercialising their research. Sajni also reminds us of how Ph…

’I really never knew how I felt in the lab, what does it really mean [for me]?... I’m a creative person, I love to meet people [and] I realised that being in the lab can be quite lonely’, Sara asked herself during her time as a PhD candidate. In this episode, Tina Persson, the founder of PhD Career Stories, interviews Sara Andersson, who tells us a…

”[On average,] one farmer commited suicide every 30 minutes in India”, Aditya Parekh remarks as he talks to our host, Tina Persson. This fact is what changed his mind and sparked his interest in changing that reality. He knew he wanted to help them. In this episode, Aditya shares his journey and challenges in the academic transition from Oncology a…

In an age of misinformation, it has become essential for science to reach the public audience in a transparent manner. As a graduate in science, have you ever thought of communicating your science with the world? In this episode, Santoshi Devadas talks to Priya Rangan, who tells us everything about her journey to becoming a scientific communication…

Am I fit for a PhD? My experiments are going nowhere. Will I see the end of this PhD? I only have academic experience, how will I find a job in the industry? Have you ever been in these situations? Our guest Marisa Pereira had asked herself these same questions, but today Marisa has successfully completed her PhD and transitioned to the biotech ind…

Sometimes life hits you hard, and then you have to make new decisions you hadn’t imagined making. Previous goals and ambitions can evaporate, especially after enduring something emotionally, psychologically, and/or spiritually harrowing. Our guest Andrew McKee was tested by tragedy, on top of career confusion, when he entered an MD/PhD program but …

Have you spent so much time thinking through career choices that you could make but ended up making no decision at all? Sounds familiar? This is called analysis paralysis, which is very common among perfectionists. In this episode, one of our PhDCS team members, Santoshi Devadas, had the pleasure to interview Isabeau Iqbal who helps ambitious perfe…

In this episode, Tina Persson talks to Mark Herschberg about how to learn to become an entrepreneur. Mark’s recently published book “The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You” gives deeper insights into this topic. Mark has a diverse background ranging from Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Cryptog…

In this episode, Tina Persson interviews Niba Audrey Nirmal, a science communicator. Niba is dedicated to hosting and producing science videos related to plants, skincare and cosmetics. If you are curious, you can find Niba’s work on her YouTube channel NotesByNiba. During the interview, she shares her career path and talks about her decision to no…

In this episode, Tina Persson interviews Grażyna Żywot-Ciecierska and Ola Samuelsson, who are co-founders of a global company called GE Hunter. They are experts in headhunting, recruitment and client advisory. They have 20 years of international experience in finding talents for the pharma, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), medical, industrial and…

Kathleen Champlin graduated with a doctorate in Contemporary American Literature from Ball State University in Indiana (USA) in 2015. Currently, she is an online writing tutor with Pearson's Smarthinking and a copyeditor for several companies. In this episode, Kathleen will provide an example of a disabled PhD's career transition in the humanities.…

In this new episode, Adriana Bankston tells us about her career story. Adriana is a Principal Legislative Analyst at the University of California Office of Federal Governmental Relations in Washington, DC, where she serves as an advocate for the university with Congress, the administration and federal agencies. Adriana grew up in a family of scient…

In this episode, Tina Persson interviews Rachel Kindt. After a PhD in Biology and a postdoctoral fellowship, Rachel dove headfirst into the biotech world, working her way from the lab bench to the corporate boardroom over her 20+ year career. Leveraging her scientific training and acquired - some might say improvised! - business savvy, she led drug…

João Graça holds a PhD in Biosciences from Cardiff University and currently works as an R&D Project Manager for LIPOR, the entity responsible for waste management in Greater Porto (Portugal). His current projects mostly concern the valorisation of bio-waste to high-value products. João has been involved in the creation and coordination of Smart Was…

In this episode, Tina interviews Lauran Fuller. Lauran is a mother of three, an entrepreneur, and a doctoral student. For the past 7 years, she has owned and operated a dessert bakery in southern Oklahoma. She wants to take the lessons learned along her journey and educate others. She is particularly keen on self-development and work-life balance, …

In this podcast, Tina Persson interviews Bärbel Tress. Bärbel is a Research Career Expert & Advisor. Her main expertise is to advise young researchers how to successfully conduct and complete their PhD studies, how to apply for academic jobs, and how to improve research performance and efficiency. Bärbel has a PhD in Landscape Ecology from Roskilde…

In this podcast, Tina Persson interviews Adam Sierakowiak with a focus topic: the career transition into the pharmaceutical industry. Adam is a medical advisor at MSD since 2018. He has a master's degree in biomedical sciences from the Karolinska Institute, where he later pursued his PhD in neuroscience. Adam discusses the importance of learning th…

In this episode, Tina Persson interviews Elena Itskovich and Ofer Yizhar Barnea. Elena has a PhD in stem cell biology from the University of Cambridge. She volunteers for ScienceAbroad and has hosted the macadamia podcast. Ofer has a Ph.D in Human molecular genetics. He has served 6 years as an officer and ran a RnD team of physicists and mathemati…

Dear listeners, it is with great joy that we welcome you to our new home and to episode 101 of PhD Career Stories. After a year-long pause, we return to podcast publication with a fresh and functional website, in which you can find our entire podcast catalogue conveniently organized in relevant categories. We believe that storytelling is a powerful…

Welcome to episode 100 of Phd career story, where we have a round table discussion with 9 members of our team. In this episode we talk about the impact that Phd career stories have had on Phds around the world, based on comments we have received. We also talk about what we have learned from Phd stories and working as a team in the last 3 years. Thi…

Welcome to a new episode of PhD Career Stories. In today's podcast, Dr. Rui Cruz tells us about his career path and how he went from doing a PhD in biomedical sciences to starting up his own company, called Connecting Biotech. He also shares with us valuable tips and lessons he learned along his journey. Looking back, I view my PhD as a process of …

Welcome to today episode where Dr. Evelina Kulcinskaja tell us the story of her transition from academia to industry. Evelina received her PhD in biochemistry at Lund University in 2015. After that she did a 2-year post-doc at the University of Nottingham, UK, doing research on biocatalysis. She now works as a lab manager at a pharmaceutical compan…

Welcome to a new podcast in PhD Career Stories. In today’s podcast, Dr. to be Natalia Bielczyk shares her journey from her homeland Poland to the Netherlands and the different steps she took to become an entrepreneur. Natalia is just about to get her PhD in Neuroscience at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior in Nijmegen. In 201…

Dr. Ulrikke Voss has a PhD in medical sciences from Lund university, and and has been working as a postdoc and associate researcher at Lund university for 6 years. She just decided to quit the academic career and start her new journey, both mentally and physically. In this podcast, she shares her story and the first steps of the preparation of her …

In this podcast, Tina Persson, the founder of PhD Career Stories has an interesting interview with Dr. Laura Pozzi, who is currently working as a Scientific Writer for a Swedish Biotech, Atlas Antibodies, in Stockholm. Her role involves content creation and scientific marketing communication. Laura received her Ph.D. in Life and Biomolecular Scienc…

Dr. Naresh Thatikonda, a senior scientist at Cobra Biologics shares his story and about his transition from academia to industry. Naresh did his undergraduate study in India and continue his education in Sweden. He has a PhD in Biotechnology, from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. His plan was to pursue an academic career but after PhD, he…

In this episode, Dr. Sabine Englich shares her career story from the perspective of a coach and tells us about the essence of developing a satisfying career. Dr. Sabine had been a science manager in the Max Plank institute for over 20 years. After retirement, she started her coaching career and currently she is helping young PhDs to fulfill the tra…

This is the second episode of Dr. Francesca Capellini, in which she will talk about the importance of networking in order to broaden your career opportunities. In her first podcast (#91) Francesca shared with us her career steps that led her to her current position at the italian non-profit organisation Fondazione Umberto Veronesi and how she devel…

Welcome to this new episode where Dr. Francesca Cappellini shares her experience about her career path as a scientist. Dr. Francesca Capellini is working as a researcher for the non-profit organization Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, she is also a scientist writer and a science communicator. In this episode, she talks about the common mistakes done wh…

In this podcast, Tina Persson, the founder of PhD Career Stories has an interesting interview with Sven Totté, who is a Management Consultant using the knowledge and the skills gathered over 25 years in different commercial and leadership roles in a large variety of industries. He is passionate about improving companies’ performance through organiz…

In this episode, Dr. Svante Hedstrom will tell us about his story and about his transition from academia to industry. He will also share with us some reflections on his journey and how important it is sometimes to leave our comfort zone. After his PhD, Svante followed the path of “least resistance”, which was postdoc-ing. With time he realized that…

This is the second episode of Dr. Ben Hartwig, in which he will talk about resilience and will share tips on how to stay resilient and how to deal with stress. In his first podcast (#85) Hartwig shared his story and the lessons he learned during his PhD. So if you have not listened to his first podcast, don’t hesitate to do so. Ben is a German scie…

Dr Kate Evans, Founder and Director of charity called Elephants for Africa, shares her story and tell us how her passion and interests in elephants shaped her career. Kate is an award winning behavioural ecologist and conservation biologist who conducted her PhD ‘The behavioural ecology and movements of adolescent male African elephant in the Okava…

In this podcast, Tina Persson, the founder of PhD Career Stories has an interesting interview with Dr. Martin Blaser, who is a postdoc coordinator and co-founder of the Max Planck PostdocNet. He studied food and nutritional science in Giessen and continued his doctoral study in microbial biochemistry at the University of Marburg (2007). He continue…

In this podcast, Dr. Ben Hartwig shares his story and lessons he learned during his PhD. Dr. Ben Hartwig is a German scientist, entrepreneur and actor. He studied genetics at the Max-Planck Institute in Cologne, specialised in Epigenetics and aside he toured with Germany’s biggest improv theater, Springmaus, for the past six years. He has performed…

Sonia Jaeger is German-French psychologist, psychotherapist, and PhD. She has been living a location independent life as a digital nomad for the past four years while working as an online therapist, providing online counselling to expats and other globally mobile clients in German, French, and English. After finishing her PhD she decided to take a …

Matt Hotze graduated with a doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Duke University in 2008 and he is currently Administrative Director at Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Engineering Research Center. From his story, you will learn how almost failing the GRE exam brought him to the managing position he has now and how to apply business pr…

In this episode Pearl Osirikeshares her story and some of the most important lessons she has learned during her PhD so far. Pearl is a biochemist with an interest in drug discovery and infectious diseases. She holds a first-class degree and a masters degree from the University of Benin, Nigeria, where she also serves as an Assistant Lecturer. Curre…

This is the second episode of Fabian Taube, in which he will share five tips on how to survive outside of academia after an academic career. In his first podcast Fabian shared his story transforming from academia to a specialist in preventive medicine at the Swedish Armed Forces Center for Defense Medicine. So if you have not listen to his first po…